Top 14: Stade FranÃƒÂ§ais humiliated by Toulouse

By Paul Eddison Monday 8 March 2010, 23:52 UK

The Sport Review rounds up all of the weekend’s action from France’s Top 14.

Stade FranÃƒÂ§ais suffered a humiliating 29-0 defeat at the hands of Toulouse in front of a 78,000 strong crowd at the Stade de France. The battle between the two most successful sides in French club rugby was an incredibly one sided affair as Toulouse managed to dominate all parts of the game, in particular at the set piece and the break down.

The worrying thing for the Parisians is that Toulouse never really got into top gear, but still had enough to embarrass their hosts, for whom Mathieu Bastareaud was the only player to come out of the game with his reputation intact.

Elsewhere, there were two more huge ties in this weekend off from the Six Nations. On Friday night last yearÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s finalists met at the Stade Marcel Michelin and Clermont Auvergne gained some measure of revenge with a 22-17 win over French champions, Perpignan. The home team could be thankful to fly half Brock James, whose 14 points proved vital for a slightly out of sorts Clermont. Full back Anthony Floch scored a try 15 minutes into the second half to give his side a little breathing space after a try from Romanian hooker Marius Tincu had given Perpignan the lead just after half time.

In the third big game of the weekend, Toulon squeaked home thanks to a late Felipe Contepomi conversion from the touchline to beat Biarritz 21-20 at Stade Felix Mayol. The win almost guarantees Toulon a place in the Top 14 playoffs and at the same time effectively condemns Biarritz. The Basques probably deserved the win, but two late yellow cards and a huge late effort from the home side proved just too much, and the 2006 champions will probably need to win all their remaining games to stand a chance of qualification for the playoffs and next seasonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Heineken Cup.